At 6:15 am, what’s being described as a stampede broke out at Qinji elementary school in Xuej township in Laohekou, a county-level city in Xiangyang, Hubei province. The accident was caused by a dormitory gate collapsing, according to one report. Another article from China News Service says students were on their way to morning exercises when they... Read more »
Nine Hong Kong tourists are among the 19 who perished when a hot-air balloon in Luxor, Egypt turned into a fireball and plummeted a few hundred meters to a sugarcane field on the west bank of the Nile river. Only the pilot, who suffered burns on 70 percent of his body, and one other man, believed to be from Hong Kong, survived.
Reuters reports that the cause of the accident, which happened on Tuesday, was a gas explosion:
This newly opened hotel at the foot of Emei Mountain in Sichuan province, about 100 miles from Chengdu, is reportedly the first panda-themed hotel in the world. Checking in for a night comes with your free panda furry, apparently:
Years of occasionally reading the Beijinger has finally paid off: the magazine has published its funniest piece ever, and they didn’t even have to write it. Take it away, boys: We are back with a new short story contest… Lord have mercy. You have 140 characters to play with… They had mercy!
CRI reports that the suspected gang-rape victim in a high-profile case involving Li Tianyi, whose father is famous People’s Liberation Army singer Li Shuangjiang, might drop the charges if a few of her material demands are met: A netizen called “dugeweibo” released on his or her Sina microblog that said the parents of Li Guanfeng and... Read more »
Flying drunk isn’t as fun as it seems. For one, the altitude is liable to give you a massive hangover, combining the sort of jackhammer headaches with swirling, Terrence-Malick-roving-cloud-type nausea that make you swear off drinking forever. And two, you might make a complete ass of yourself, like two recent passengers of an Air France... Read more »
After winning the Oscar for Best Picture Director and lumbering his way through an acceptance speech — redeemed by words from two non-English languages — Ang Lee hit the streets of LA and found himself in that coziest, most comforting of havens for the delirious, the drunk, the endorphin-jacked, or merely the hungry: In-N-Out.
The CPPCC official who went ballistic after missing his flight in Kunming has been suspended from the mining company that employs him, according to People’s Daily. The better penalty may have already been levied though, in the form of shame: Yan Linkun, the deputy chairman of Yunnan Mining Corp, is now the face of airport meltdowns the world... Read more »
Outside a salon in the city of Pyongyang hangs a framed picture showing 28 hairstyles for customers to choose from. The North Korean government has declared these styles the official ones for men and women -- and what selection!
We're all too familiar with the practices of a conformist state, but this is a throwback to an even more communist era. If you are a married woman, you have to keep your hair short and ribbon-free; if single, young ladies should keep braids; etc.
